Physicians have been utilizing medical devices to perform a variety of medical procedures for many years. Often the devices used include detachable parts or pieces that may wear and need replacement. One such medical device is a shaver or cutting device used by surgeons to perform medical procedures or operations. The type of blade that is used at any one time is selected by the physician or surgeon based upon the type of procedure to be performed.
As used in this application, the terms “blade” or “burr” is used to describe any device used for cutting or shaving, grinding or polishing in a medical procedure, including, for example, a rotating device.
Some blades are disposable (e.g. are provided for one-time use only), while other are designed for multiple uses. In either case, the attached blade is designed to operate within specified design parameters. For example, a blade may be designed to operate up to a maximum speed. The physician would then have to ensure that the hand piece to which the blade is attached is set to operate according to the blade parameters.
With respect to non-disposable blades, it is contemplated that the blade may effectively be used for a certain length of time prior to requiring servicing.
The hand piece, which is grasped by the physician or surgeon during the procedure, is typically provided with controls allowing the surgeon to control the operation of the device. The control may be located directly on the hand piece or at a convenient location adjacent to the physician including a control panel and/or touch screen control.
Blades may come in a variety of sizes for particular applications and surgical procedures and may have operating parameters specific to the blade corresponding to the procedure for which the blade was selected.
As above noted, the hand piece is usually detachable from the blade, and is often conveniently constructed so as to be attachable to a variety of blades having differing cutting properties and specifications. Accordingly, it would be advantageous for the hand piece to be able to identify the blade coupled to the hand piece at any one time. Currently, the settings of the hand piece may be manually adjusted to the blades properties.
It would be advantageous to simplify the task of using the blade and hand piece system by eliminating the need to make manual adjustments to the hand piece in order to optimize the blade settings for an attached blade.
For reusable blades, to ensure optimal blade operation, it would also be advantageous to limit the total amount of use for any particular blade prior to replacement and/or servicing.
Related to the maintenance data are usage characteristics of a blade. For a manufacturer, how its products are used is valuable information. A manufacturer may want to know, for example, how often each product is used, the elapsed time of each use, the maintenance history of the product, and so on. These factors can impact future blade design related to durability, reliability, components and materials used in the manufacturing process.
Therefore, a system is needed that simplifies and optimizes blade and hand piece usage and does not interfere with sensitive electronic equipment such as is found in an operating environment and provides the blade manufacturer with information regarding product usage and maintenance.